Sir, – Whether Danny Morrison (December 31st) is right or not that other northern parties were more guilty of personation than Sinn Féin, I cannot say.
We can, however, look back in history to the early 1870s when some by-election successes by Fenian candidates were dismissed by the landlord faction as merely the result of intimidation by a tiny band of ruffian Fenians. The British took them at their word and finally granted the secret ballot throughout the UK. The unintended consequence of the landlords’ successful propaganda was the end of their own electoral influence, not that of the Fenians. In the first election under the new rules in 1874, Joseph Biggar and four other Fenians were elected, proving that fear of the wealthy had a far greater impact on previous elections than had the supposed fear of gunmen. Within a few years, on the back of the secret ballot, Parnell built a party that ended landlordism forever.
Wouldn’t it be ironic if Morrison is correct, if the tight rules brought in the North to stop supposed Sinn Féin personation, actually benefited Sinn Féin? History shows the great and the good can sometimes can get it very wrong, shooting themselves in the foot, as it were. – Yours, etc,
TIM O’HALLORAN,
Ferndale Road,
Finglas,
Dublin 11.